


Eight Days

by Lemur710



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M, fluff and love, non-graphic sexual acts, slight dom/sub elements (see end notes for details)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 17:19:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9133807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lemur710/pseuds/Lemur710
Summary: Alec suddenly realized this was the longest he and Magnus had been apart for reasons that weren’t life or death. He hadn’t heard Magnus’s voice in eight days. He hadn’t seen him or smelled him or touched him in eight days. He hadn’t kissed him in eight days.This is a companion piece toForce of Nature, but can be read separately.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Posting this under the wire before Season 2 overwhelms my brain (and possibly renders this canon non-compliant!). Also, trying my hand at writing Alec. I hope others enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> See end notes for details on the dom/sub elements.

Once, Jacob Callum slipped a note into Alec’s bag before weapons practice. It was labeled “too Izzy” and the first line was some poetic stuff about her lips. At 15, Alec was beyond punching boys on the nose. Instead, he smacked Jacob upside the head with his bow staff “by accident” and his glare unmistakably said, “Stay away from my sister.”

“He’s ugly and he’s too old for you,” he told Isabelle later. She jumped on his back and threatened to tickle him until he handed over the poem. 

“He’s also stupid.” Isabelle eagerly unfolded the crisp white paper. “If you’re going to defend my honor at least defend me for the right reasons.” She read for a few seconds, then burst out laughing. “Ooh, listen to this—”

“I really don’t want to hear—”

“‘Lips as devastating as your whips, eyes like hearts and fire—’”

“Why would anyone even write a poem? I don’t get it.”

Isabelle giggled. “‘Beautiful ‘Belle,’” she nearly shouted, grabbing onto him. “‘I am mesmerized by your hips...’”

Alec groaned and shrugged her off. He really hated poetry.

_______

Mundanes bustled from one store to the next with their collars turned up against the cold wind. Alec pressed close to the brick, on alert as he peered around the corner. The straining sun shone ghostly in the fluttering snow flurries. He searched passing faces for the tell-tale demonic signs, and wondered _Was that my phone?_ He blinked, tried to focus—but it couldn’t hurt to check; it would only take a second.

His home screen lit up, revealing nothing but the early hour and generic background. 

He opened it anyway, looking back through his messages. He paused to admire the name “Magnus” at the top of his screen. The text somehow looked different than “Jace” or “Izzy,” even though it was the same font, the same color. Nothing was different, but it was _different_. Alec scrolled, reading their last few messages, the ones they’d exchanged last night while Alec got ready for bed.

 **MAGNUS**  
_i think i’ve eaten my body weight in honey toast ___

 **MAGNUS**  
_how do you feel about nutella?_

**ALEC**  
_I don’t feel anything about Nutella._

**MAGNUS**  
_have you tried nutella?_

 **ALEC**  
_Maybe. Is Nutella that chocolate stuff?_

**MAGNUS**  
_honestly, alexander? what do you do with your time?_

 **ALEC**  
_Not eat Nutella apparently._

**MAGNUS**  
_i almost sent a jar to your bedroom, but my client just arrived and i want the pleasure of watching you eat it_

Lying down on his bed, Alec smiled, his cheeks heating. _You could feed it to me_ , he thought, but didn’t say it.

 **MAGNUS**  
_one more consultation and then no sleep till brooklyn_

 **MAGNUS**  
_i know that reference is lost on you. i think you’ll like the beastie boys. ___

 **MAGNUS**  
_and nutella_

**MAGNUS**  
_and honey toast_

**MAGNUS**  
_ugh alexander we have SO MUCH TO DO when i get back_

Alec grinned. He felt like he had laughter bubbling through him all over. _Can’t wait,_ he wrote. _Good luck._ Then, he buried his flushed, smiling face into his pillows. Standing in a cold alley, his cheeks felt hot rereading it. He hadn’t heard from Magnus for 11 hours now. He knew his meetings could take that long sometimes, but his nerves still felt frayed, like he had electricity in his skin.

The phone buzzed in his hand.

 **MAGNUS**  
_home and falling into bed. sooooo tired._

Alec smiled, chilled fingers poised to respond. But with what?

 _Rough meeting? I could come over later._ Too presumptuous. He deleted it. _Glad you’re safe. How’s the bird?_ No, deleted. _Get some sleep. Hope you dream about me._ God, no. Deleted.

He hesitated.

 _Wish I was there to kiss you goodnight,_ he typed, and then hit send. He immediately regretted it. He watched a family pass, an old couple in ear muffs with two teenage children. Not demons, Alec was sure of that much, but that was about all he observed.

What if Magnus had a bedtime ritual and wouldn’t have wanted Alec there anyway? He could imagine Magnus wincing at the suggestion of a cold, snowy Shadowhunter in his bedroom. He should have asked about the trip. Magnus had seemed anxious about it before he left. Alec didn’t want to pry, but now it seemed like he only cared about what _he_ wanted. And were they at a goodnight-kiss stage? They’d had sex and Alec had slept over before, but maybe a goodnight kiss before sleeping was sort of living-together stuff and that wasn’t something Alec even felt ready to discuss. And it was technically morning, anyway, so a kiss goodnight didn’t even make sense.

His phone vibrated.

 **MAGNUS**  
_i wish you were too. maybe i can see you later?_

 _Yes,_ Alec replied. _Sweet dreams._

Magnus responded with a smiley face and then another emoji with eyes closed and a “Zzzzz” hovering over its forehead. 

Alec took in a deep breath, a cloud forming from his exhale. He wanted to feel calmer, but didn’t. He scanned back up through the messages, stopping on the photo Magnus had sent a few days earlier. It had been daylight where Magnus was, daylight and warm, the sun shining brightly while Alec had been laying down for the night. _made a friend_ , Magnus wrote, as he stood shirtless on a balcony with some bright red bird perched on a tree behind him. He looked suspended in the jungle, nothing but green all around him. His mouth curved in a smirk, dark-lined eyes narrowed suspiciously at the bird. Alec bit his lip looking at Magnus’s in the photo.

Magnus had incredible lips. He’d noticed them the first time they met. Now he knew how they felt, the way they felt on his skin. He zoomed in on the image, trailing his eyes over the plump curve of his top lip. He could usually make Magnus moan by licking it, then sucking on the bottom one, biting a little. He loved that feeling, the vibration of Magnus’s moan in his chest like it was his. His lips always looked so much redder after they’d been kissing for a while. Just thinking of it sent a hot shiver down Alec’s spine. Sliding the photo down, Alec noticed the darker skin of his nipples, just visible before the photo cut off. He swallowed. Sweat prickled down his back, despite the cold. He knew how that skin felt against his tongue. He’d wanted to ask for another photo, maybe one of Magnus’s whole chest, his hands, maybe—maybe more—

“Hey,” Jace said, tucking against the wall behind him. “Seen anything?"

Alec shoved his phone in his pocket, pulse leaping. “Nah. This street’s quiet.”

“Mine too.” Jace peered out at the mundanes. He blew into his gloved hands to warm them. “You were too slow, dude. I totally saw you perving on Magnus.”

“I wasn’t perving.” Alec adjusted the quiver strap on his shoulder.

“Right,” Jace replied. “Like you’re not horny as hell. I would be.”

Alec grimaced. “Don’t talk about—augh."

“I don’t want to _talk_ about it, I’m just saying. Guy’s been gone a week.”

“Eight days.”

Jace looked at him.

“Shut up,” Alec said.

“When’s he get back?”

“He just did. Few minutes ago.”

“Okay. Let’s go check in with Izzy, and then you can go see your man.” Jace clapped him on the shoulder.

Alec rolled his eyes, but just the same, he felt a rush of gratitude that his parabatai was back at his side. For a long time, he feared they’d never be like this again.

“I forgot how uptight you were before you were getting laid.”

And then, of course, Jace had to ruin it. Alec had even missed that. A little.

Izzy’s patrol had been more productive. She had a dead demon in need of dissecting—its stomach contents could be a clue to its hunting ground, she told them, but Alec blocked out most of the disgusting details. He did, however, volunteer to help cart it back to the lab. The heavy lifting helped the incessant, uncomfortable buzz in his limbs. The logistics eased his scattered thoughts. He kept checking his phone, seeing only the time and the home screen. Three hours Magnus had been home and sleeping. Now four. Now five.

As the other lab techs filed out, Alec grabbed his sister’s lab coat from the hook by the door. She accepted it with a knowing smile. He didn’t know what she knew that he didn’t, but there was always something. He hovered, examining X-rays he wasn’t really seeing, as she pulled the white coat up on her shoulders and tied back her hair.

“You could stay and watch,” she said. “Should be a good one.” The level of glee she showed when wielding a scalpel still impressed and unnerved him. 

“No, thanks,” he said. He rubbed at the back of his neck. “I think I want to go see Magnus?”

“Are you asking me?”

“No. It’s just—I know he had this, I don’t know, I guess it was an old client in Thailand...He seemed a little tense before he left. He didn’t say anything, but he seemed, I don’t know...” He shrugged; his skin felt tight.

Izzy grinned at him.

“Don’t make fun of me,” he warned her.

“Oh! I’m not. This isn’t—” She pointed at her own smile, trying and failing to calm it. “I’m not making fun of you. I’m _happy_ for you, you dummy. You should definitely go see Magnus.”

“It wouldn’t be weird if I just showed up?” 

“No, because I’ll tell you a secret: Magnus really likes you. And if he wants to be alone, he’ll tell you.” She carefully fitted her visor down over her hair, turning to the pale-skinned corpse lying on the table. The tray of tools rattled as she rolled it nearer.

“Okay, but should I bring him something?” Alec asked. “What if it was a bad meeting? I never know what to say.”

“Just say what you feel. It doesn’t have to be poetry, Magnus knows how you are. Or you can use your mouth in other ways.” She gave him wink through the clear plastic shield.

“Jeez, Izzy.” He groaned and moved for the door, but she grabbed his arm to stop him.

“Wait, you big baby,” she said. “I know you don’t talk about your emotions at all ever, but you know what this is, right?”

Alec shrugged lightly, unsure what she was getting at. 

“You miss your boyfriend, Alec. That’s it.”

 _Boyfriend._ The word struck. They’d not discussed terms or what to call each other, but Alec suddenly realized this was the longest he and Magnus had been apart for reasons that weren’t life or death. They’d texted every day, first thing in the morning and last at night due to the time difference. But he hadn’t heard Magnus’s voice in eight days. He hadn’t seen him or smelled him or touched him in eight days. He hadn’t kissed him in eight days. 

“I know when you feel nervous, you start looking for some big reason why, like it has to be an emergency or a mission," Isabelle said. "But these are just feelings, okay? Totally normal, boy-likes-warlock feelings. You don’t have to solve them. You just have to feel them.”

He nodded, but it did little to tame the tense thud of his heart. He rubbed his forehead. “I think about him all the time,” he confessed in a whisper. “I feel like I’m going crazy.”

She softened, releasing her grip on his sleeve. “Well, I have a guess what’s happening to you, but it’s not ‘going crazy.’”

Confused, Alec thought for a moment, then locked his mind down tight. _Boyfriend_ was enough revelation for one day.

“I’m actually a little jealous,” she said. “This is the good stuff.” She unfastened the top buttons of his shirt and adjusted the collar. He let her. 

Alec looked down at her, at her lab coat and her pretty face behind the plastic visor. He doubted anyone in the world was good enough for Isabelle, but he wished, for her sake, that someone would try to be. “Iz—” he started, but she waved his sentence away before it formed.

“Go see your boyfriend,” she said. “I’ve got my own hot date.” She nodded toward the mangled demon corpse on the table. “Just be with Magnus and don’t overthink it.”

“Okay.” He gave her a lopsided smile as he backed toward the door. “Have fun.”

“I will,” she said, and he knew she meant it. Only one of a million reasons no one would ever be good enough for her.

He thought about texting Magnus that he was on his way, but he couldn’t decide how to say it. _Inviting myself over! :D_ No, deleted. _You awake? Thought I’d come by._ He’d probably wake him up asking if he was awake. No, deleted. _Okay if I come hear about your trip?_ Too careful and nervous. No. Deleted. He reached Magnus’s loft before he ever found the right words.

Alec pushed open the front door and walked into the living room, listening for noises. He heard nothing, but did notice the luggage and array of shopping bags around the coffee table. His eyes caught on a small jar labeled “Nutella.”

“Alexander,” Magnus said. “You’re a pleasant surprise.”

Alec turned to see him padding barefoot from his bedroom. He wore dark slacks, shirt unbuttoned, with his socks and boots grasped in one hand. The shirt was sheer black with curling patterns that he figured Magnus would call burgundy or maroon; they looked red to him. He was still tired, Alec noticed. Incredibly gorgeous, but tired.

“Sorry. I meant to text. I shouldn’t just walk in.”

Magnus collapsed into his arm chair with a weary sigh, dropping his boots to the floor. “If you weren’t welcome, you wouldn’t be able to,” he replied with a wink. “My client will be calling back in a bit, but we could get dinner.”

Alec felt pulled toward him, moving one foot in front of the other.

“Or what would _you_ like to do?” Magnus looked up at him, kohl-lined eyes narrowing as though he had an idea.

Alec braced his hands on the arms of the chair and leaned over to kiss him. He intended it to be a peck, a small _welcome home_ , but whatever this thing was between them sparked and caught fire. Alec moaned into a kiss that suddenly had tongue and teeth and hunger. Once upon a time, he’d planned to go his entire life without this. 

“I missed you,” he said against Magnus’s mouth.

“I missed you, too.” 

Lust burned through Alec like a brush fire. Magnus sat like a king on his throne, shirt gaping open over his broad chest, elbows resting on the chair’s arms, silver rings glinting in the afternoon sunlight slanting through the windows. Control and command simmered in the careless slouch of his legs. He’d told Alec stories about isolated villages that worshipped him as a god. They’d been quips, obvious jokes to make Alec smile, but now he believed every single one. Magnus might have been forged from every fantasy he had ever tried to force from his mind at night.

So, Alec dropped to his knees in front of him.

Magnus shifted subtly, and Alec could almost imagine the magic moving beneath his skin like sand in a breeze. He lifted his hands to Magnus’s knees, the fine fabric impossibly soft against his palms. 

“Alexander,” Magnus said when Alec began to slide his coat from his shoulders. Alec knew that tone well—his careful, gentle tone, the one he used so often in their early days as he navigated his way around a prickly, closed-off Shadowhunter.

“Shut up, Magnus,” Alec said, stopping his reassurances before they started; he didn’t need them this time. “I want to.”

Magnus inspected him a moment, and Alec knew he was searching for uncertainty he wouldn't find. Alec wanted this.

“Okay,” Magnus said a heartbeat later. “Then, by all means.” He sat back and spread his thighs.

Alec licked his lips, enjoying how Magnus’s eyes darkened and tracked the movement. Then he pulled his gaze from Magnus’s face to take in the tempting expanse of his _everything else_. 

He dragged his lips down his neck, nipped at his Adam’s apple. He savored the rasp of stubble against his tongue, the masculine scent of Magnus’s skin and sweat, and that juncture of shoulder and neck that made his eyes roll back if Alec sucked just right. His fingertips trailed over the addictive firmness of Magnus’s stomach. Magnus let out a long, pleased sigh and his head fell back to rest on the chair’s back. Alec breathed in; it felt right somehow, to do this for Magnus, to _worship_ Magnus.

Magnus hummed lowly, pleased and turned on, hips lifting to help Alec open his trousers, and he dropped one hand to card through his hair. Just a fleeting pat, but Alec seized his hand when he tried to move it away again. He didn’t know why. Something loosened in his chest, pouring a dizzying hunger into his belly. Magnus’s strong hand closed in his, rings cool against his palm. He squeezed until Magnus took the hint. He gripped Alec’s hair tight in his fist.

Alec moaned and peace broke over him like a sunrise. Every agonizing indecision burned away in the desire searing his skin, in the taste of Magnus on his tongue, his strained gasps in his ears, the whisper-sharp pain of the fist in his hair. His every breath and heartbeat filled with nothing but pleasure and _Magnus_ as he was swallowed whole by a clarity he’d never felt in battle, never felt with a bow in his hands, never experienced once in his controlled and rigid life. 

Alec widened the spread of his knees to palm himself through his jeans. He’d never felt like this, but didn’t have the presence of mind to realize he’d never felt like this. Didn’t realize half the moans he heard were coming from his own throat.

“Alec— _ah_ ,” Magnus gasped, pulling up at his hair, warning him.

Alec clung to Magnus’s hand, keeping his grip steady. He didn’t let up, he didn’t care. He wanted to feel Magnus let go too. 

Magnus let out a lip-bitten moan, back arching. His hand went lax in Alec’s hair. Alec pulled away enough to press his forehead to his stomach, panting breathlessly. His mouth felt hot and swollen, thoroughly used. A moment later, Magnus grasped his chin and turned his face to up his. “What do you need, my darling?”

Alec swallowed, mouth clicking wet and slick. “Pull my hair,” he said, heavy-lidded and desperate. “Kiss me.”

Magnus slid to his knees before him, gripped his hair and yanked tight enough to make Alec cry out, eyes rolling back in his head. Pleasure swooped through him and Magnus licked into his mouth. Alec fumbled frantically with the waist of his jeans, then felt Magnus push him out of the way and take him in hand. Magnus sucked on his bottom lip, biting the soft flesh in a sloppy, filthy kiss. In seconds, Alec groaned, bone-deep and sated.

Magnus eased the fist in his hair, pressed their foreheads together. He touched Alec's cheeks with gentle hands and cleaned them with a whisper of magic. Alec panted against him, lost in time and feeling. Suddenly, all the thoughts he had evaded slammed back into his mind. Shame snapped back to the place in his heart where it had been planted in his youth and fear spun like lightning up his spine. “I’m sorry,” he breathed. He still felt Magnus’s hands on his cheeks.

“Whatever for?” Magnus asked. He pulled away enough to look at him, but Alec avoided his eyes. His mouth felt hot and bruised. His whole face felt warm. He could feel his hair sticking up where Magnus had grabbed it, because he’d wanted him to. Because he’d asked him to pull his hair. What had he just done?

“What’s wrong?” Magnus asked. 

The softness of his voice always made it harder, unlocked some desperate need in Alec that he tried to ignore in every other part of his life. He breathed in to regain his tension, gave a faint shrug of his shoulders like it didn’t matter. “I’m sorry,” he said again, cheeks burning. He tucked himself back into his jeans and zipped up.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Magnus assured him, doing the same. The rawness and intimacy of that, of watching Magnus fasten his pants—it was something Alec couldn’t comprehend. He’d never thought he’d have this.

“I didn’t—that was...” Alec tried. “I’m not—I mean, I don’t—”

“It’s okay. That was perfect.”

Alec slumped to sit on the ground. He wanted to run and didn’t at the same time. Eight days. He’d already been without Magnus for eight days. He scratched at a stain on the knee of his jeans. “I shouldn’t...I don’t want you to think that I...” 

“Don’t want me to think what?” Magnus leaned against the chair across from him, legs stretched out, but not touching him. 

Alec rested his elbows on his folded knees. He stared at his hands, worrying at the pad of his left thumb.

“Will you talk with me about it?” Magnus asked. “If you didn’t like something, I want to know.”

“It’s not that.”

Magnus waited, and the time seemed to stretch. Alec’s mind felt cluttered again, full of emotions he didn't have the words to describe. A glass of water appeared beside him and he took a careful drink, to give himself time if nothing else. Magnus watched him.

“Do you enjoy being controlled?” he asked, after Alec swallowed.

Alec’s heart flipped. “No,” he said quickly, firmly. He wiped at his mouth. Magnus waited as he blinked, swallowed again. “I’m not—I don’t want to be controlled.” 

“This isn’t about the rest of the world, or anywhere else in your life,” Magnus said. “This is you and me.”

Alec’s eyes flittered up to his, then away again. Magnus’s gaze could be so intense.

“So,” Magnus continued, “the question I’m really asking is, do you enjoy being controlled _by me_?”

Alec kneaded the flesh of his hand and couldn’t deny the flicker of heat. He heard his own voice whisper, “Yes.”

Magnus stayed silent and Alec couldn’t bear to look at him to know why. He tried to force the words in his mind into some kind of order. “I want you. All the time,” he said. “But sometimes I still have these—these voices in my head. I can never just... _be_ with you. So I guess when it feels...” His shoulders lifted, uncertain. “When it feels like you’re making me—You’re not _making_ me do anything.” At that, he did meet Magnus’s eyes. He needed Magnus to understand that much if nothing else. “You haven’t _made_ me do anything. I’ve wanted to do everything we’ve done together. I just mean that... It’s like...”

“I understand,” Magnus said, nodding gently. “When it feels like I’m making you...?”

“It makes it easier for me to...let go, I guess. I can just...enjoy it because you—you’re... You can do whatever you want with me.” Alec looked down at his hands again. “And I want you to.”

“Alexander,” Magnus said, voice rough. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.”

Alec glanced up in time to see his eyes dragging over his body in a way that made all his hours of training feel worth it. “It’s okay?”

“More than okay.” Magnus sighed. “Believe me, if you hadn’t already wrecked me, there are at least three things I’d make you do right now.”

Alec’s body tried to respond to that sensual rasp in his tone, but even he needed more time.

“I’m glad you told me. I just need you to always tell me if you _don’t_ want to do something. Deal?”

Alec smiled, and it felt better now that his lips were worn and his hair was probably a mess. That had been the hottest experience he’d ever had in his life. “Deal.”

“Can I...” Magnus hesitated. “Is there something I can ask of you?”

“Yeah.” Alec sat up straighter. Magnus only hesitated when he was going to say something important, when he was searching for the right words. When even _he_ struggled to find the right words.

“My client this week was difficult. Well, that whole part of the world is difficult for me. Sometimes.”

Alec suddenly remembered why he’d come here in the first place. “That’s why I came over, actually. I—I wanted to see how you were. I’m sorry, I got distracted.”

Magnus laughed lightly and moved his leg, tapping Alec’s knee with his toes. “I’m not complaining.”

Alec clasped Magnus’s foot before he could move it back, keeping it against his knee. He liked the way it felt against his palm. He liked Magnus’s _feet_ and felt more stupidly hopeless than ever.

Magnus glanced down at Alec’s hand on him. “Believe it or not,” he said, in that light way he had of talking about things that meant too much to him, “I don’t feel powerful all the time.” He leaned back against the chair, elbow up on the seat. Still sprawled so much like a king. “Do you think you can be there for me when I feel that way?” 

“Is this one of those times?” Alec asked. 

Magnus looked at him, eyes soft. From the first day they met, no one’s eyes touched him like Magnus’s. He hoped no one’s ever would. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Alec rubbed the foot in his hand, their only point of contact as they sat on the floor in the fading yellow sun.

“Not right now.” Magnus looked away again. He rubbed his fingers together idly. “Right now, I’d...I’d like it if you would hold me?”

Alec almost laughed; it was a near thing. For half a second, it seemed like it had to be a joke, someone as powerful as Magnus needing that. It hadn’t been a question, but Magnus said it like one, and Alec wondered at this space between them. Magnus had been with so many people—Alec didn’t like to think about it, but it was true. Pulling hair and biting kisses must be nothing new for him. But maybe this was hard for him to ask for.

Alec slid across the floor to close himself around him, taking his place with his back against the chair. He struggled a bit, tucking his long legs on either side of his hips, settling Magnus’s broad, strong form against his chest. It felt strange to cuddle someone he’d seen move this entire loft and everyone in it halfway across the city with a wave of his hands. But then suddenly it didn’t. Then Magnus relaxed against him, hard muscles easing, and suddenly everything felt right. Feelings bloomed inside Alec’s heart that he was sure there were no words to describe, even if he were better with them. Because there was no one like Magnus.

He brushed his mouth against his hair, loving the feel of the shorn sides against his swollen lips. Magnus’s heart pounded steadily against his palm, his temple warm on his deflect rune as his head rested on Alec’s shoulder. Eyes closed, Alec listened to the in and out of Magnus’s breath, smelled the spice of his soap and his hair gel. Outside, the city traffic drifted upward, horns honking and engines grinding, but Alec felt suspended in time. When he remembered this moment later, he couldn’t be certain: Was it real? Did time stop? Was it Magnus Bane’s magic, or the magic of being in love with Magnus Bane? He’d never felt like this, and had just enough presence of mind to realize he’d never felt like this. Enough to recognize the word he’d let into his own thoughts. _I want to love you so much it’ll last you forever,_ he thought, but didn’t say it.

The tittering ring of Magnus’s phone punctured the stillness in waves. Alec’s phone buzzed with a text message. Slowly, limbs like molasses, Magnus pulled away and sat up. He let out a sigh, like a man just waking from a dream. His phone continued ringing, the outside world insisting on being let in.

“Hello,” Magnus answered, phone to his ear. Alec kept hold of his other hand as he stood, trailing his fingers across his skin until the last possible second and Magnus moved out of his reach. “You have them in stock, then? All of them?”

Alec’s phone buzzed again, a message from Izzy with news from the demon autopsy and a life he only now realized he’d forgotten for a time. A life he didn’t want to go back to just yet... 

He looked across the room to where Magnus talked on the phone, pacing. His open shirt billowed around him like a cape on a king.

Alec shoved his phone in his pocket and stood. He walked over, tugging Magnus to a stop by his shirt. “I’d need them by tomorrow at the latest,” Magnus said to whoever was on the line. Alec fastened the lowest button, then the next two until the shirt was closed to his waist. “You already harvested them?” Alec might have been more interested in the conversation if Magnus’s collarbone hadn’t looked so fantastic, necklaces glittering in the setting sunlight. It felt even better against his tongue. “Why would you—mm—why would you...do that?” 

Magnus’s free hand clasped his shoulder, maybe to push him away but certainly not doing it. Alec fastened another button and nipped his way up Magnus’s neck. 

“Ahhh…no, yes. No, I can come get them today. I’m going to have to, aren’t I?”

Magnus turned in his arms, ostensibly to get away, but laughed almost immediately. Alec chuckled lowly against his ear. He settled his hands on Magnus’s hips, pulling them to his. Yeah, this new position was not a discouragement in the slightest. Alec sucked _just right_ at that juncture of shoulder and neck.

“Mr. Bane? Hello?” The woman sounded tinny and distant through the speaker. “Are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” Magnus answered, strained. Alec lifted his head to bury his laugh in Magnus’s hair. “Ahh—No, yes, I’ll be there. I’m leaving right now.”

He ended the call before spinning to attack Alec with a fierce, tongue-hot kiss. “I owe this client a discount,” he said, punctuating the sentence with a rough smack of mouths. Alec just did his best to keep up. “You’re all I’ve been thinking about for eight days.” He halted, his eyes widening a fraction like he hadn’t intended to say that out loud.

Alec smiled, and he felt young and goofy and light and a million other feelings. “Me too,” he confessed, and he remembered Izzy’s words: _This is the good stuff._

Magnus’s expression eased, the barest hint of a smile, and this kiss was softer, wetter, slower. It started a tingle in Alec’s toes that crept up his skin like warm bath water. Magnus groaned irritably as he separated from him. “I have to go. Scorpion hearts don’t keep well and some intern at the shop cut them out already.”

A bit dazed, Alec turned to watch him walk to the chair.

“I specifically told them I’d pick them up tomorrow,” Magnus continued, shoulders swaying, “but I’m just a High Warlock, what do I know?”

“You don’t have to go back to Thailand, do you?” 

“No. Just to Jersey. I’ll be back tonight.”

“I have to check in with Izzy about this autopsy, but after that, I’m free tonight.”

“No, you’re not,” Magnus replied, dropping onto the cushion. “You have plans with me tonight. Or rather, I have plans for you.” He winked one black-shadowed eye. 

“Do they involve Nutella?” Alec tried to smooth his hair. Magnus still looked so good. How did he still look so good?

Magnus’s face lit up. “Ooh, I’d forgotten all about the Nutella. I may need to revise my plans.” He leaned over to pull on his socks.

Alec watched at him, and realized it probably could be called gazing. Izzy would tell him he had hearts in his eyes. “Did anyone ever write you a poem?” he wondered suddenly, and was surprised to feel the words slip out.

Magnus fastened his boots with a loud _ziiiiip_ and cast him a look.

“Okay, dumb question,” Alec laughed. “Could I read any of it? Sometime?”

Magnus seemed to move in slow motion as he stood and slid on his long jacket. “You want to read poetry other people wrote about me?” 

“Yeah.” Alec gave him what he hoped was a flirtatious glance as he pulled on his own coat. “I want to see if they got it right.” _I want to know if they found the words,_ he thought, but didn’t say it.

“Okay.” Magnus shrugged. “I’ll look through my papers and see what I can dig up.”

Alec stepped near. His cheeks were beginning to ache from smiling. “Like you don’t know exactly where they are. You probably have a box of them tucked away and protected by wards.”

Magnus’s lips quirked. One eyebrow lifted. “Well, everyone needs something that makes them feel better on rainy days.”

 _I want to make you feel better on rainy days,_ Alec thought, and then he said it.

Magnus softened, stunned in that vulnerable way that did things to Alec’s heart. “You did,” he replied, a little breathless. “You do.”

Alec kissed his cheek because it seemed the right thing to do, and he understood why people wrote poetry.

**Author's Note:**

> Alec realizes he likes having Magnus pull his hair during oral sex. They maturely discuss his possible enjoyment of being controlled.


End file.
